Therapy through drawing

The end of last week brought about some pretty heavy thunderstorms. The tornato sirens started going off and we headed to our crawl space to wait out the storm. The power went off and we had dinner by candlelight/flashlight. There was no tornato but it did rain buckets!!! We personally know five families who were/are bailing out their flooded basements.

All of this really bothered my 4 year old. She was very concerned about the thunder and lightening. She was worried about what would happen to her playroom if we flooded. She was very worried about our friends who live in the area where a possible tornato was spotted. For several nights, we slept cuddled together. She asked tons of questions and really had a difficult time dealing with her fear.
One morning, after the storms, I came into her room and found her quietly lying on the floor, drawing on her Aquadoodle.

She drew our home, a firetruck, our neighbors home, and in the middle she drew a tornado touching our house.

At the top, she drew the thunder and lightening.

She finished it off by drawing her and her little brother being led out of the house by the firefighter.

This was such an eye-opener for me. She loves to draw. I never thought of using her drawing to help her work through her feelings. I know that therapist often use drawing to help children but I never thought of using it with my own children. The drawing became a springboard for her to really discuss her fears with us. I know that we will be encouraging her to use her drawing to express her emotions again.